


The Silent

by DeadLegato After Dark (deadlegato)



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:48:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29254728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadlegato/pseuds/DeadLegato%20After%20Dark
Summary: [Characters and relations tags will be updated as the story progresses to avoid spoilers] This is Hell. They knew it was a brutal world, but a rude reminder about that shakes things up at the Hotel. Sometimes violence goes too far, and everyone at the Hotel has their own way of dealing (or rather, not dealing) with it. When you owe a debt to Valentino and you can't pay, things aren't going to go well. You might just lose everything.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 35





	1. Prelude to pain

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: This is a commission fic, and it's outside the range of what I usually write. Copious amounts of angst ahead! 
> 
> I know I shouldn't be trying to update three at once, but I have to write what I'm motivated to write at any given time. My brain muse is fickle.

Husk propped open the back door from the kitchen as he took out the glass bottles to the recycling behind the hotel. Of course, most of Hell didn’t bother with recycling, but this was the princess’ turf and the princess cared about such things. If anything would make him drink less, it was the weight of having to take out his empties, he thought with a grunt as he hefted the paper bag into the bin. The glass containers clanked against one another as they settled inside.

His ears twitched slightly. He could hear a light scratching coming from inside the main dumpster. Another Hell-beast raccoon had probably gotten trapped in it. Not wanting it to leap out and scare Charlie again, he lifted the heavy and partially rusted metal lid. “Come on out, little…” his voice dropped and he choked slightly. He lost his grip on the dumpster lid, causing it to slam loudly shut again. He took a few steps back. He immediately turned on his paw pads and rushed back into the hotel.

“Niffty, get me some old blankets. Ones that we don’t mind getting messy and we can throw out,” he ordered. “Princess, your family got a private doctor or something?”

“Er, yes. Is something wrong, Husk? Are you sick?”

“Just call them, okay?” he said, taking the stained set of slightly yellowed sheets from Niffty’s arms. “Stay in here. I’ve been to war, and I didn’t want to see this. You don’t want to see it. Trust me. Get a room with a bed ready and put more disposable sheets on it.”

He returned with something tightly wrapped in the blankets, holding it against his shoulder like a baby. It was much too large to actually be a baby. It was large enough that he was having some trouble carrying it.

“What… what is that awful smell?” Vaggie asked, waving her hand in front of her face.

“Dumpster and blood,” he answered coldly. As he walked past her, she caught a glimpse of a bloodied arm hanging out of the lump of blankets.

-Across town, Porn Studio-

“Angelcakes, baby,” Valention crooned. That voice could have been made of velvet but rubbed across Angel’s skin like a cheese grater.

“Yes… yes, boss?” he asked nervously.

“I’ve got a present for you,” the tall moth creature said, extending a box with bright pink and white wrapping paper on it to Angel. It was even topped with an elaborate bow.

Despite the beautiful outside, Angel opened it cautiously. Like Valentino himself, there was no telling what could be inside of it. He flinched as the top of the box came off, expecting something to jump out at him.

Instead, there was just a neatly folded set of clothes. “A… a snakeskin print bikini top and miniskirt?” Angel asked, removing the ebony-black outfit with a shining scale pattern from the box. “Val, you shouldn’t have!”

The moth let out a deep laugh that made Angel’s skin crawl. “I’m sure the snake I took it from would also say I shouldn’t have,” he laughed, his voice deepening when he saw the look of realization spreading across Angel’s face. “Angel, you insult me, saying I would just get you a print. I only get the realest of luxuries for my best star,” he grinned. “I also have a pair of boots coming to match it, but those take longer to make. I’m sure you understand.”

The white spider’s shoulders were shaking slightly. “Ha… ha… yeah,” he said slowly, trying not to choke on his words. With the context, his eyes only now noticed the particulars of the black and yellow combination of the scales on the skirt.

Valentino suddenly grabbed Angel by the neck, forcing the spider to look directly at him. “I don’t like it when my best star runs around fighting nobodies and getting bad press because of it. I work hard to maintain you as a brand, Angelcakes, and when you mess with that brand image you make daddy cranky. I especially don’t like it when those nobodies post doctored pictures online implying that I would ever be friends with such lowly crawling worms. I just thought you both might need a refresher lesson on knowing your places,” he said. He released the spider. “And just in case you thought I wasn’t serious; I expect you to wear the outfit to perform when the boots come in. I don’t like it when you make me waste money on clothes you don’t wear,” he grinned, exiting the room.

As soon as Val was out of sight Angel had to lean against the wall to steady himself, hand over his stomach. Calm down, he told himself. Val’s just fucking with you. There’s no way he… no way… He was just trying to upset and scare him, right?

Angel felt a bump against his leg and looked down to see Vark peering up at him with those huge, friendly puppy-shark eyes. “Hey, Vark,” he said, giving the shark a head scratch. Vark always knew when he needed cheering up. “Hey, who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?” He noticed the shark had something in its mouth. He cautiously took it, the shark creature bounding away with its tail wagging in the air.

It was a familiar one-eyed grey hat, chewed and torn, but still very recognizable.

That was the first time Angel vomited in a club trash can for reasons other than being high or drunk.


	2. The death of a snakesman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel has to pretend he doesn't know anything while actually knowing too much.

The door to the hotel felt extra heavy as Angel let himself in, carrying a paper bag with the hat in it. He hadn’t wanted to leave it at work, but he had no idea where to take it. He had no idea where Pentious was… or rather, where what was left of Pentious was, or what condition he was in.

An unfamiliar voice was speaking. He peered around the corner to see a tall praying mantis demon in a white coat speaking for Charlie, Vaggie, Husk, and Niffty. “There was nothing I could do to save that version of the snake demon’s body,” she said slowly. “Even if I had managed to patch the wounds, infection likely would have set in before they could heal, and healing would have been a long and painful process. I’m honestly shocked he made it that long clinging to that sliver of life. I made the best decision and administered a solution that stopped his heart.”

If Angel weren’t already a cold-blooded species, those words would have frozen his blood. Snake? Body? Wait, if it was Pentious, how did he get to the hotel? Did Val intentionally…? No, no, no time to think about that yet. So, that was it? He’d tried so hard to hold onto life and she’d just… ended it?! She’d killed him?! Angel was about to burst in, screaming at her, when she continued speaking.

“I was able to force a hard reset that way, but hard resets take a lot out of a demon. He’s incredibly weak right now. I administered some medications that will keep him asleep for a minimum of six hours.” Angel took a deep breath and let his shoulders role forward, relaxing. Right. They were demons. Only heavenly weapons could fully kill them.

“Of course, forcing a hard reset also undoes any modifications that might have been made to the body in the previous version. Most snake demons aren’t built to hear speech, but rather, to sense vibrations. Snakes that choose to stay in Reptown generally use a variant of sign language known as ‘snake sign’ to communicate with one another. It’s something snake demons inherently know when they arrive in Hell. Snakes who go outside of living with just other snakes tend to have a magical implant put in that allows them to hear and speak normally with other species. I have no way of knowing for sure if he had the implant, but I would put my money on it. At a minimum when he wakes up, he’s going to be confused and frustrated about why he can’t hear anything. I’m going to arrange for a nurse who knows the signs to come and take over his care.”

“And at a maximum?” Husk asked, his voice puncturing the air like he was clawing at it.

“We don’t know how much of the trauma he remembers. The brain is good at blocking things out, but we can’t promise as to what it did or didn’t process. He’s going to need to a psych evaluation when he’s awake. And… may I speak to the princess and Vaggie privately, please?”

From his hiding point, Angel could just barely see Husk and Niffty look at one another and then stand up, quietly exiting through the room. He knew he should leave as well, but his curiosity overtook his common sense. The doctor mantis made a very deep sound, a disapproving kind of huff. “Princess… there was… well, there’s no delicate way to really put this, so I’m just going to say it and hope that you can keep my patient’s confidentiality, but still understand what may be going on in his head when he wakes up. There was significant trauma to the cloacal area, indicating sexual assault. That may impact his mental state when he’s conscious. If he remembers it, that is.”

Of course, there would be, Angel thought grimly. That was Val’s signature. That was Val did things. That was Val himself. He probably filmed it. He probably… Angel dug his fingers into the wall to steady himself, unintentionally leaving a long line of scratch marks through the gaudy wallpaper. What if he makes me watch it?

“Anyway, as I said, the best I can do is send a snake nurse to look after him until he can look after himself again. I have no way of knowing how long that will be because it all depends on his mental state. I wish I could do more, princess, but I’m up against a wall here.”

“That’s fine,” he heard Charlie say quietly. She was trying to keep her upbeat tone, but her voice had tracked midway through the word fine. “I’ll walk you to the door.”

Realizing he was about to get caught, Angel panicked. He quickly grabbed the door, yanked it open, and slammed it. “Hey everyone, ya boi is home!” he called, his voice wobbling as he tried to sound as normal as possible.

Normally, the only looks he got from Vaggie were displeased ones. This time though, he thought he could feel her one-eyed glare slicing straight through him as Charlie escorted the doctor past him to the door. Come on, Vags, he thought to himself. If I really had just gotten home, there’s no way I could have known the funeral parlor serious atmosphere I was walking into!

“What’s in the bag? That better not be drugs.”

“If I had a bag this full of drugs, I’d be high as a kite on helium right now, and not hungover and tired,” he answered, voice snappish. “It’s part of my working costume.”

Vaggie reached out anyway and squeezed the bag, and feeling something made of fabric, grunted, and stood back. His heartrate had gone up a little when she’d reached out. How the hell could he explain to them why he had Edgelord’s hat if… If what he’d heard really did mean the snake was here. Which brought him back to the question: if it was Pentious, how had he gotten to the hotel, and had Val meant for the hotel to find him? Was he meant as some kind of sick warning? He still didn’t know it was Pentious for sure. Maybe they’d found some other injured snake, as unlikely as that seemed.

“Since you’re happy now that I’m not a mule, I’m gonna go up to my room and feed Nuggs,” Angel said, trying to sound like his normal self.

“Angel,” Vaggie said sharply, causing him to freeze in place and grimace. Had she guessed? “If you could, we’d appreciate it if you’d stay away from room 313. We’ve got a new guest there but he’s not feeling well, and we’d prefer if he were left alone to rest.” Funny that she hadn’t phrased it as an order. Perhaps she was afraid that if she ordered him to do anything, he’d do exactly the opposite. Which, to be fair, was entirely true.

“I don’t want to catch anything, so you won’t find me snooping around a sick bed,” he shrugged, heading up the stairs.

He popped open a can of Porky’s Pig food and spooned it out for Nuggets. ‘Pig food: because you’re a pig’ the bright pink slogan on the side of the can said. A cartoonish pig was next to the logo, wearing a napkin around its neck and holding a knife and fork. Usually the image made Angel giggle, but today… was it just his imagination, or was the knife bigger and sharper looking than usual?

He sat down on the bed and slid the hat out of the bag. It had mostly recovered on its own by that point, but it was looking around with an expression that Angel read as a combination of worry and curiosity. “Don’t worry, hat-man. I’ll reunite you with your… boss? Bottom? soon,” Angel assured it, setting it on his bedside table. “Sorry you had to become intimately familiar with the inside of Vark’s mouth,” he said, patting it. “And I… I hope you didn’t have to see too much.” He didn’t know how much of a memory that hat had. He’d looked it over and couldn’t see that it had a brain or any organs other than that eye and the mouth that emerged occasionally. How was it seemingly alive? Angel didn’t know. This was Hell. Things like this just kind of existed in Hell. “I wish you could talk so you could tell me what you know,” Angel sighed, flopping into bed.

Once Nuggets finished his meal, he joined Angel in bed, nuzzling up to and licking Angel’s face, causing Angel to giggle for the first time that night. “Nuggs, you tickle. Also, your breath smells like pig food,” he said, lifting his squirmy pet into his arms and hugging him.

.

He waited several hours before creeping down the hallway. Seeing no one, he made it all the way up a flight of stairs and down the hall to 313. Cautiously, he knocked on the door. When he got no answer, he slipped inside after finding it unlocked. All he wanted to do was drop the hat and get out of there quickly.

The snake was asleep, lying on his side with his back to Angel. Even though he could see the long black hair, part of him still thought it might not be Pentious. That it was still possible some other injured snake had wandered to the hotel. It was only when he snuck around to the other side of the bed and was able to see the face that he could no longer deny it. This had to be part of Val’s message to him. “I know where you live, and if you fuck around, you’ll find out what I can do.”

As he was setting the hat down the eyes on the snake’s head snapped open and looked directly into his. Angel froze. There were tears in the corners of those pink eyes. A second later, however, the eyes slid shut again and with a twitch of his fingers, the snake was unconscious again.

Angel ran. He ran all the way back to his room, his breath coming out in heaves and his chest pounding with the loudness of his heart.

He didn’t come out again until it was his usual time to hit on Husk before going to work for the night. He wasn’t really feeling it, but the last thing he wanted was for them to notice a change in his routine when he theoretically knew nothing. “Hey, Husker,” he said, trying to keep his voice even and normal. “You… whoa, you started without me tonight,” he said, noticing Husk’s pile of empties was larger than usual for that time of night. The cat didn’t respond, staring at his drink. “Husker? Husk?” Angel asked, waving his hand in front of the cat’s face. That finally startled him out of his stupor, causing him to shake his head as he stared at Angel.

“Excuse me, was a bit distracted. Some stuff happened earlier that reminded me of the…” his voice dropped off and he shook his head again, as if willing himself to change mindsets. “What can I get ya tonight, Legs?”

“You still got any of my usual, or did you drink it all?” Angel asked.

“You know your fruity pebbles drinks are my last resorts,” Husk responded, pouring a drink for him.

He looked down at it, swirling his glass in his hands. “I don’t know… what’s bothering you, Husk, but… you uh… you know you can always talk to me, right?”

“Legs, talky-feely is the lower on my list of things I want to do than drinking your sugar-syrup with a side of booze,” he answered, taking another long chug of his own drink. Angel didn’t feel like having his own drink. Pentious getting hurt was one thing. They weren’t friends. In fact, they were outright enemies. The only reason he was laughing at the snake’s pain is that he wouldn’t wish Val’s wrath on his worst enemy, and Pentious was far from that. It was another to know that Husk had been indirectly hurt by it as well. It was his fault, wasn’t it? If he’d stayed away from that fight like the princess wanted, like Val wanted, none of this would be happening.

“Something wrong with your drink?” Husk asked, cutting through his thoughts.

“Work sucked extra hard last night, and not in the good long veiny schlong way,” Angel answered. Husk snorted in response, and it was good to hear him sounding a little more normal.

“… Do you want to at least hear the facts? Vaggie doesn’t want us talking about it to anyone who wasn’t there yet, but it doesn’t feel right to keep it from you since you’re going to find out sooner or later.”

“… Yeah, yeah, sure. Hit me with some… facts.”

“I went to take out the glass recycling after you’d gone to work last night, and I heard something scratching inside the dumpster. I thought it was a demon raccoon or opossum, so I opened the lid to let the thing out. What was inside the dumpster was…” Husk paused and took another long drink. “You know, being in this hotel, with the princess and all her cheer, I’d forgotten that we really are in Hell. I got a reminder.”

Before he could say anything further, Vaggie walked into the room, which immediately sealed Husk’s lips towards the bottle and away from talking. Angel felt slightly bad about it, but he was going to need an extra-large hit once he got to the club to get through the night. Strangely enough though, Vaggie didn’t stop to lecture the two of them about drinking like she usually did. She just walked through the room and up the stairs, not even looking in their direction. Normal Angel would be ecstatic not to be on the receiving end of one of her lectures. Tonight Angel felt a distinct chill in seeing her acting abnormally.

As he was walking out the door, he pulled out his phone. “Can we talk after work tomorrow morning?” he texted Cherri. It was only after he was gone that Husk would look down and see Angel’s untouched drink still sitting on the bar.

.

Cherri met Angel at the back stoop of her apartment building, lowering herself slowly down to sit next to him on the rough concrete stairs. He’d started talking, and everything had just poured out. Her hand on his shoulder, only once she was certain he was done speaking, did she speak up herself. “You know Egglord and I don’t exactly like each other, but shit… on a scale of demons I hate, he barely registers compared to your boss.” She kicked a pebble. “I need to make it to Overlord myself so I can whip his ass around the block a few dozen times.”

“You’d have to go through all three of the V’s,” Angel sighed. That was the problem, wasn’t it? On his own, Val was relatively moderate on the Overlord power scale. With Vox and Velvet as his back, he was borderline untouchable. Individually they were each strong enough that they could swat about half of the other Overlords single-handedly. As a trifecta, they’d be difficult to match without teaming up a group of higher-tier Overlords. To be blunt, there weren’t that many who were higher tier than Vox, and that was the real crux of the problem.

“I feel like I might be able to talk Alastor into having a little fun with me,” she shrugged. “Speaking of Alastor, you didn’t mention him anywhere in your story.”

“He comes and goes as he wants, and I haven’t seen him lately. I don’t know if he knows what’s going on right now. Considering what I’ve heard rumors that he’s done to other demons, though, I doubt this would get under his skin.” Angel suddenly stopped. That was the worst possible thing he could have said, and it had just… slipped right out of him.

Cherri sighed, putting her arm around Angel’s shoulders. “Look, Angel, I know you told me this in confidence and all, but if you think I’m not going to use this opportunity to take a bunch of old man’s territory… hey, wait. If he’s down for the count, who is taking care of the Egg Bois?”

“… You’re actually worried about the Egg Bois?”

“Hey, when I’m not smashing them, they’re actually kind of cute little fuckers. I know where he lives. We should at least stop by and check on them.”

.

Angel was impressed. “This mansion is his? How fucking loaded IS this guy?! Where is he getting all this money from? I thought he was just a small-time local crime boss,” Angel said, looking through the bars at the Victorian-style mansion. “How are we going to get in?”

“Old man doesn’t look over his shoulder to make sure no one with binoculars sees him entering his gate code,” Cherri answered, typing it in. The gate clicked open, and the two walked up the winding driveway to the front door.

As they reached the front door, it flew open in front of them. “Bossman, you’re back! You’re… you’re not bossman,” the confused Egg Boi said, scratching his shell head.

“Your boss got in a little accident. He sent us over here to make sure you little guys were taken care of until he feels better,” Cherri lied to them.

They looked at one another and shrugged, letting Angel and Cherri inside. The two demons were immediately greeted by an entryway adorned with a giant oil painting of the snake himself. Of course, he’d have something like that, Angel thought with a bemused smirk.

As he and Cherri turned the corner, they both immediately had the cold metal of gun barrels pressed to the backs of their heads. “Don’t move if you want to keep your brains in your skulls,” a deep voice said coldly. “Now, you two are going to hold very, very still and you’re going to tell me… what accident? What have you done with the snake? You’d better speak carefully, because if I don’t like your answer, the eggs will be using your brains as finger paints.”


	3. Along came a spider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve had some incredibly upsetting things happen in my personal life recently (you can check my Twitter if you want the story) so writing had become kind of hard for me right now. I might be on hiatus once I get what’s already written post. FYI.
> 
> Sorry it’s not beta, the option was “post now without beta or possibly not post for awhile at all”
> 
> Sorry I’m such a mess.

“You know, we could have a better conversation if you took those guns out of the backs of our…” the metal pressed tighter against Angel’s head. “Okay, okay! Don’t lose your head. Actually, don’t lose my head. Look, your snake friend got tangled up in something to do with Val and got himself a little roughed up. I don’t want to upset the eggs by going into detail.”

The gun wobbled slightly, then lowered. “I told him not to go.”

Seeing an opening Angel spun around, readying his fists to get whoever had those fingers on those guns before they could change their mind about making art with his brain meats. He froze in mid-swing, his eyes locking onto the red eyes of a much smaller grey-black spider. “M… M…”

“It’s Arackniss now,” the spider cut him off, snapping.

“Do you… know who I am?” he asked.

“Of course, I do. You’re Angel Dust. Hell’s greatest porn star. Our family’s greatest shame.”

“Family shame, huh? I’m not the guy sneaking around in a would-be failed Overlord’s house,” Angel snapped, poking his finger into Arackniss’ chest. “You wanna explain what that’s about, _little brother_?” he spat. “Maybe not so straight and narrow?”

“I rent workshop space and tools from the snake so I can work on my car and guns. Two men can know each other without having sex. It’s not my fault you don’t know that because you can’t look at a man without wanting to fuck him!”

“At least I get PAID for it. Not to mention my legions of adoring fans.”

“I wouldn’t be proud of being paid to be a whore, no matter how many fake friends it got me.”

“You know what, you can just have fun fucking around by yourself in this house full of eggs. No good deed goes unpunished in this Hell hole!” Angel shouted, stomping back out and slamming the door behind himself.

The black spider looked directly at Cherri, who was sharing popcorn with the Egg Bois while watching the fight. Under his glare, she waved slightly. He sighed, lowering his head into his hands. “Look just… at least tell me where Pentious is so I can go visit him and I can make arrangements to watch over the place while he’s gone.”

“You heard of the Happy Hotel? Or Hazbin Hotel? Depending on who you ask? He’s there,” Cherri shrugged, leaving to follow Angel.

The two walked down the street together, Angel angrily kicking every rock he saw to the point where he severely scuffed up his boots. For Angel to damage his boots, he must be really upset. “So… knew ya had a sister. Didn’t know you had a brother. I guess I can see why now.”

“I don’t have a brother or a father. Just two homophobic pieces of shit I share a genetic code with,” Angel answered her. “Coming here was a mistake. Trying to do anything nice for anyone just leads to me getting shit on,” he said. “I… I think I want to walk back to the hotel alone. I need some space to think,” he informed Cherri, walking briskly away from her before she could answer. His sudden action stung Cherri slightly, even if she understood why he was acting like that.

.

Angel arrived back at the hotel still feeling steamed about the encounter with his brother. His chest hurt like he had a really bad case of acid reflux, his throat burning as well. His tongue felt dry and sandpapery.

Husk wasn’t at his usual station, and Angel really needed a drink right now. He knew Husk hated it when anyone invaded what he considered ‘his space’ behind the bar, but… well, Angel would get him a fucking box of chocolates or something as an apology later. At the moment, he didn’t care.

He actually managed to make it to his second drink before Husk came down the stairs. “Hey, Husker. Where you been? I missed ya.”

“Helping the princess check in on her newest project. She’s currently trying to convince him to eat or drink something.” The day nurse had gone home, and Charlie was the only one left who knew how to sign to Pentious. Not that it really mattered. His eyes were open, but he wasn’t responding to anything. The only thing he’d done was turn his head away when the princess tried to get him to take an electrolyte drink.

“Aw, you don’t bring me room service when I’m sick,” Angel chided him. He was going to laugh but stopped when his comment didn’t get Husk to crack a smile.

“You fucked up my system,” he said briefly.

“Sorry. I really needed it. I had an unfortunate encounter and a fight with my brother,” Angel said as Husk topped off his drink and then started pouring his own.

“You have a brother? I thought you only had a sister.”

“There’s a story there, but it’s not one I want to tell right now.”

They heard the door to the hotel open and close. They both turned to see a small black spider entering. Angel’s hackles were immediately up, the sight of his brother as irritating as if someone were rubbing sandpaper all over his skin.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m not here to fight with you. I’m here to see Pentious.”

Now that had Husk’s fur up. “How did you know he was here?” the cat growled suspiciously, ears back.

“Cherri told me after she and Angel broke into his house earlier today.”

Husk looked sharply at Angel. He realized he wasn’t supposed to know who the mystery sinner in 313 was. Shit. “I… okay, I snuck in to see who the princess was taking care of, and Cherri got concerned about who was taking care of the Egg Bois when I told her.”

“You just can’t keep a secret, can you?” Husk grunted, shaking his head. He turned to the other spider. “Fine, you can follow me up, but I’m going to have to ask you to wait outside until I can ask the princess if it’s okay for you to come in. What’s your relation to the snake, anyway?”

“I rent some workspace from him, and he’s a friend,” Arackniss explained as Husk led him up the stairs. After a moment of sitting and huffing, Angel followed the two of them. Husk left the two of them in the hallway for a moment, not speaking to one another, for a few moments until he opened the door again and gestured Arackniss inside.

Husk must have noticed the twisted look on Angel’s face, as he clamped one paw-hand on Angel’s shoulder. “Come on, legs. Let’s go down to the bar,” he said, pulling the taller white spider away.

.

“Arackniss. I’m a friend of Pentious,” he introduced himself, shaking hands with both Charlie and Vaggie. “Anth-Angel told me he was here, and I wanted to see how he was doing. I can look after his place while he’s resting if I need to.”

Vaggie’s eyes got narrower and took on a slight glow as she looked at Charlie. “We didn’t tell Angel that Pentious was here.”

“He probably snuck in and looked. You know how hard it is to keep a secret from Angel’s snooping,” Charlie said. She turned back to Arackniss. “He won’t be able to hear you,” Charlie explained to him. “There were some complications with his hearing implant.”

“That’s fine. We share a workshop space, so he taught me some basic sign for safety reasons since we couldn’t hear each other over the noise.”

“He hasn’t been eating or drinking. If you could get him to at least drink some fluids, that would be helpful. But… um… no pressure if you can’t,” Charlie stammered. They were worried he’d been crying enough that he might dehydrate himself. They couldn’t tell if he had stopped because he was calming down, or because his eyes had dried out with nothing left to cry. Any attempt to touch him resulted in a sharp strike from either his fists or his tail.

“That’s fine. I just… need a second first.” He ran his fingers through his hair. He still remembered how giddy Pentious had been when he’d gotten the invitation to meet with the Vs. The snake had practically been slithering on air, thinking his big break had finally come. That he’d finally been noticed. Arackniss had been more suspicious and had warned Pentious about going. He’d even suggested Pentious should arrange to meet in a more public place and that he’d sit nearby in case things went South. But no, Pentious had insisted it would be safe. Had _insisted_ on going alone to Valentino’s office. They’d had a massive argument. The last thing he’d said to Pentious as he’d stormed out was “Well, don’t come crying to me when you get your tail kicked!” He did this to all of his friends, didn’t he, and that was why he didn’t have friends, wasn’t it?

He went around the side of the bed and sat down quietly. ‘Hey,’ he signed.

Pentious looked away without answering. After a few moments of looking everywhere around the room except at the spider, he finally looked back. Arackniss cracked open and held out a bottle of sports drink, but the snake made no effort to reach for it. Very slowly, he got a response, even if it was only one word. ‘Sorry.’

Before Arackniss could ask what he was sorry for, the word came again. ‘Sorry.’ Then again, faster. ‘Sorry. Sorry. Sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry…”

‘STOP!’ he did the word as a huge gesture, hoping this would work for emphasis. He didn’t actually know how to shout in sign. The snake responded to this gesture by burying his face in his hands, his body shaking slightly. He didn’t understand what was happening until he heard a loud gasping choke of a sob. When he tried to reach out, the snake pulled violently away from him and looked at Arackniss with huge eyes flicked with fear. He immediately pulled back, realizing that he shouldn’t have tried to touch without warning. He just wanted to do something. He felt so helpless.

‘Will come back later. You busy now,’ he said, as he didn’t have the words to sign anything else. ‘You be good. Okay?’ He thought Pentious wasn’t going to respond, but he got the tiniest nod. His shoulders rolled forward with relief. Worry was making a knot in his stomach, and even a small gesture helped him breathe.

“If it’s not too much to ask, what did Valentino do to him?” he asked Charlie directly.

“Valentino? The Overlord?” Vaggie asked, eyebrow raised.

“Well… yes. Ant-Angel told me that Valentino roughed him up.”

“Funny. He didn’t tell us that,” Vaggie said, getting up. “And I’ve already established Angel knew Pentious was here even though we didn’t tell him.”

“Let’s… let’s not jump to any conclusions!” Charlie stammered, desperately grabbing her partner's hand. 

It was too late. Arackniss had stomped downstairs to where Angel and Husk sat at the bar. Taking a hard stance, giving Angel a look that could kill, he growled. “Anthony. What have you done?”


	4. Debtor's Prison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sir Pentious reveals what happened on that day in Valentino's office.

From the bed, Pentious could feel the vibrations of doors slamming and feet stomping on the ground, but it was strange not to be able to hear the sounds that he knew went with them. His world wasn't completely silent, but it was so muffled that it might as well have been. It was sort of like... wearing earmuffs under water?

He didn't want to lie there wondering what was happening that he couldn't hear, but he couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he'd be back in Valentino's office. How naive and, dare he say it, innocent he'd been, to think the Overlord wanted him for his mechanical genius. He'd even brought along a briefcase of weapons plans, holding it against the wall of the elevator with his hip so that he could use both hands to ensure that his bowtie was straight. Lucifer, he must have looked the fool.

.

"Mr. Valentino," he said brightly. "I'm so glad you've finally recognized my genius. Was it the impressive display of power I recently made on the news?" he asked.

The overlord had his hands folded in front of his face, hiding his mouth. "I find it quite presumptuous of you to assume I was impressed by watching Angel and Cherri slap you around the entire West Pentagram."

The snake's expression faltered, but he immediately put his guard back up. "Then... why...?"

"Despite the old adage, all publicity is not good publicity." The moth leaned forward to pick up a cigarette on the end of a long, slender cigarette holder. A thick, red smoke curled off of it. Pentious had to fight back the urge to cough. "I know a lot of demons think I'm just a pimp, but 'just a pimp' couldn't make it to where I am. I'm a manager. I manage my star's brands, and I don't like it when their brand gets damaged. Not only does it cost me money, it costs me time. While Angel dear was out playing war games with you and Cherri, he wasn't here in the studio. Someone's going to have to pay for my wasted resources. Here's the bill."

"You... you want me to pay you because _Angel_ chose to fight me?" he asked incredulously. "And..." he looked at the paper. "With all due respect to yourself, this amount is ludicrous!"

"That's what I would have made from the sales for that day's shoot, plus the money I lost having my crew waiting around for a star that didn't show, _and_ the money I lost because I could have been using that space for other films."

"But... why me? I didn't make Angel fight me! He... he interjected himself. My battle was with Cherri. Why not make Angel pay?"

"Because Angel is dead broke, and I saw that fancy blimp of yours. To have an airship like that, you must be absolutely loaded," he grinned, noticing the way the snake's hands shook on the paper when he said it. "Or maybe you're over leveraged. You took out quite a few loans to pay for that monument to your ego, thinking you'd make enough in your conquest to pay it off. Didn't you?"

"My... my financial situation is no concern of yours," Pentious stammered, still trying to sound confident.

"When I bought your debt, it is," Valentino grinned, finally getting to the point. He produced a second sheet of paper. Pentious had to swallow hard, seeing his own signature on a sheet in the moth pimp’s claws. "Put everything you had into collateral, didn't you? Including your own skin. "According to this, you're already overdue to pay. You're lucky no other creditors have come for your head already," the moth chuckled. "I'll have to add a late fee to the interest you owe me. Of course, if you'd like to work out alternative accommodations, I'm a very forgiving man."

"What... kind of accomodations? I... I can raise the funds. I just need time. I own some very important patents, and..."

"Your body. Mine until your debt is paid. And if I look carefully… didn’t you also list those patents as collateral? So, if you can’t pay, aren’t they _my_ patents now?"

He knew that if he accepted the deal, he'd never be free. He knew how Valentino would keep running up bills against him for eternity. Fear overcame common sense and Pentious bolted for the door. He frantically tried the lever, but all it did was flipped uselessly up and down. How could it be locked from the inside? Panicked, he put his shoulder against the door. It didn't bend.

"Running away from your debt? That isn't a very gentlemanly thing to do." Two tall, spindly demons with sharp-looking spines on their bodies manifested out of the shadows in the room. They were wearing gas masks, which made him realize how thick the red smoke in the room had gotten. He was gagging on it, barely able to breathe, light-headed. One was holding ropes, the other an almost comically large saw. "Are you really going to make me extract my pound of flesh the hard way?"

“Please, there has to be some agreement we can come to,” Pentious pleaded.

“What could that possibly be? According to these papers, if you can’t pay, I own everything from your scales outward. I offered to let you pay me back with the only thing you still have, and you rudely tried to run away. Hurt my feelings. I’m sensitive, you know.”

The two demons had come closer as he’s shrunk against the door, tearily pleading for mercy like… like…

Pentious snapped himself back to the present. He needed to warn Arackniss! If Valentino was going to take over his house, the spider had to get his car and tools out.

Pentious threw himself out of bed. It felt like he was crawling across broken glass, the residual pain sparking through every scale as he dragged himself towards the door with his fingertips. It hurt. It hurt, but he couldn’t not warn the spider, and he had to do it now. His sobs were silent, no sounds escaping as he forced himself across the room.

.

"I didn't do anything!" Angel snapped at his brother. "I only have an idea of what happened because Val told me. If anything, I'm a victim here too, because what he did was clearly a threat towards me as well. Otherwise why would he have dropped the snake here? He wants me to know that he can do the same to me at any time."

"Angel, you don't have to worry. While I can't undo your contract with him, as part of this hotel, if he ever acted so horribly against you as my protected guests, I would be in the right to act in retribution against him." Despite her apparently docile nature, that wasn't anything any demon actually wanted. Whether they knew it or not. "But… Angel, why didn't you tell us what you knew?" Charlie asked.

"Because as your girlfriend pointed out, Princess, I technically didn't know he was here as far as the rest of you knew." He paused. "You know, I bet that explains it. If he can't torture me directly, he'll torture others to let me know what he'd like to do to me. Shit. Shit. What if... what if he'd done this to Cherri instead? What if he goes after her next? Maybe Egglord was just the first victim, his warning shot, like a trial run. What if he goes after you, Arackniss? You're my brother. Pentious was just the weakest and easiest target."

Almost as if summoned by the spider speaking his name, there were several thumps as Pentious rolled himself down the stairs. Husk and Arackniss both ran to help him, which didn’t go unnoticed by Angel. Husk hadn’t run over that way when he’d fallen down the stairs.

“What are you doing? Why are you out of bed?” Arackniss asked out loud before realizing Pentious couldn’t hear him. He had a rough idea of how to ask ‘what are you doing’ in sign, but he didn’t know enough to understand Pentious’ answer, most likely.

The snake held out hand out flat and began making gestures with the other hand like he was writing on a piece of paper, looking around at them with pleading eyes. “He wants to write something!” Charlie realized.

“Here, take my phone,” Arackniss offered.

Pentious punched his fingers hard against the phone, pressing the buttons with fury. When he was done, he handed the phone back to Arackniss, who read it with a frown. ‘Thanks, warning’ he signed back. Then, he wrote ‘I’ll take care to get my stuff right now. Thanks for the warning. But get your stupid scales back in bed, you’re sick, idiot.’

Pentious kind of flushed and nodded in agreement as Arackniss scuttled out the door.

‘What did you tell him?’ Charlie asked, as with the day nurse having gone home already, she was the only one who could ‘speak’ to him.

‘Private’ he answered. He was… to be blunt, he was embarrassed that he’d lost everything that way. He wanted everyone to get the impression that he was wealthy. He didn’t want them to know how much of that wealth was an illusion created through loans.

The reality that he’d lost everything had only started to sink in once the adrenaline from wanting to warn Arackniss started wearing off. It had also somewhat dulled the pain, which came roaring back at the same time the sinking feeling became like a rock in his stomach. Unable to move himself up the stairs, he had to rely on Charlie, Vaggie, and Husk to return him to his bed. So pitiful, he thought. How absolutely miserable. Did Valentino consider their debt settled, or would he come for him again?

He only had one way forward. As Charlie helped adjusting the blankets, he held up his hands and signed to her. ‘Let me stay. I want… redemption.’

He was certain she couldn’t believe him. That she’d realize he was only begging her to let him remain there because he didn’t have anywhere else to go. That he’d be shivering beside a burning trash can at best if she threw him out. He braced himself for the no.

Instead, she softly smiled. It was a smile that radiated a warmth that shouldn’t be found in Hell. It was the first true kindness he’d seen in so long; he almost didn’t recognize it. ‘Let’s talk more when you’re better. I don’t want you to make an important decision when your mind is cloudy. After you’ve had some time to rest, if you still want redemption, we’ll be glad to have you. Until then, you’re safe.’

Safe. He couldn’t honestly say he could remember the last time he felt safe. What did that feel like? He wanted to think it over more, but his eyes were growing impossibly heavy. Frantically crawling down the stairs had taken every bit of energy he’d had left, and he was fading rapidly into sleep. At least in a dead-exhausted sleep, he would be unbothered by nightmares.


	5. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pentious has some memories.
> 
> Arackniss takes indirect action against Valentino.

“You called for us, boss?” one of the gas mask demons asked in a muffled voice as the two shuffled awkwardly into their boss’ office.

“Yes. I think it’s time for me to put the squeeze on the snake again,” Valentino mused. Hee hee, squeeze a snake. He was so funny, in his own opinion. “He should be healed up enough for us to have another chat. Perhaps now he will be more reasonable about my requests. Which hospital did you take him to?”

The two gas mask demons looked at one another, the lenses of their mask faces creasing in concern, before they turned back to their boss. “Ho... hospital?” one asked slowly.

The tremor in the larger demon’s voice made Valentino sit up straighter. “Yes. I told you to take him to the hospital when you were done working him over, as I wasn’t done with him. What did you do?” he growled.

“Well... uh... you see... we wear ear protection because of the screams, and with all the noise, we didn’t quite hear you right, and... uh... we... um...”

“Yeeeeeeeees??”

“We thought you said hotel,” the smaller demon whimpered.

The moth slammed all four hands on his desk. “You what?” he asked. He didn’t shout, but they could feel the rage seething out of him and into them.

“We thought you said hotel. You know, like... you’re always talking about how much you hate the hotel Angel lives at cuz it’s ruining his reputation. We thought you... wanted to send them a message.”

“You took the snake to the one place in Hell I can’t easily get to him? I should make you two torture each other!” he snarled as the two demons trembled before his rage, his red smoke swirling around their necks. It bound and choked them. “That crawling worm has done what no other sinner has managed to do: create life. I want that power for myself.” He suddenly released his torture experts, letting them fall to the ground with heaving breaths. “You had better hope that the ones I have searching his house found his notes, or I’ll be having an outfit made out of your skins as well. Oh, speaking of which...” he said as his phone started to ring. “That should be them now. Hello? Did you find the... What. Do. You. Mean?” he asked darkly. 

“We’re dead,” one of the torture demons whispered to the other.

.

“This is the loan contract Pentious signed?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, I found it at his house,” Arackniss answered. “Along with multiple court summons that he didn't even open. He seemed to think ignoring the problem would make it go away. Based on the letters, since he didn’t respond, the day the courts awarded legal right to seize the property listed as collateral is the day he sent Pentious that invitation to visit him. If Pent had read the letters, he would have realized what a stupid idea going to see the Overlord was,” the spider sighed.

“We get that you’re trying to help, but... did you really have to bring them here?” Vaggie asked, referring to the baker’s dozen of Egg Bois who were now running wild through the hotel lobby.

“The contract lists all non-living materials contained within Pentious’ property as collateral. He specifically wrote the Egg Bois out, the way I see it.”

“Maybe he thought they’d hurt his case for a loan rather than help it,” Vaggie sighed.

“Anyway, the long and short of it is that his property has technically belonged to Val for several days now. He must have wanted to be sure Pentious had absolutely no wriggle room to bargain. The way I read the contract, though, their deal is fulfilled. Val got his collateral, including one snakeskin.” He hated saying those words. They made him feel sick.

“I’ll have my family’s lawyers look over it to make sure we’re not missing something,” Charlie offered.

“Just... just don’t tell him I told you about all of this, okay? He’s... well, he’s got his pride, and I don’t think he wants everyone knowing about this.” Arackniss yawned. “I’m exhausted. I spent all last night getting my stuff out of the place. I’m going to lie down. I’ll come by again and see Pent later.”

As the spider left, Charlie and Vaggie turned to the issue of the crowd of eggs.

“What’s that?” Charlie asked, noticing two of the Egg Bois guarding a heavy leatherbound book.

“It’s our baby book! It’s our most precious thing.”

“Baby… book?” she shook her head, deciding she didn’t want to know. “Let’s put it in my library for safe keeping,” she suggested. As she took it in her hands, she had no idea she was holding the one thing Valentino wanted. It was the book with all the necessary information to create the Egg Bois.

“Can we see bossman?” one asked.

“He’s still… um… sick,” Charlie stammered. “But why don’t you help Niffty with the cleaning tasks? It’ll be fun and helpful!” she suggested, guiding them into the hotel.

.

Arackniss hadn’t told the princess everything he’d been up to the previous night. He'd rounded up a group of mob friends to come over and help him round up his own stuff, as well as anything he thought valuable or important enough to take. Hey, if Val didn’t want the shit stolen, he should have put better security on the place once he owned it. Once the Egg Bois were out, an idea had crossed his mind. He knew he shouldn’t. But... technically, this was Val’s property now, not Pentious’. And Pentious couldn’t be blamed for anything that happened. Being holed-up in the Princess’ hotel without access to social media was as perfect of an alibi as he could get.

“Spread the word that we’re having a big party in the abandoned mansion tonight,” he said to the men he had helping him move things out.

He hadn’t... quite expected it to get _that_ out of hand. Before he really knew what he’d done, every low-level mobster, all their friends, their girlfriend’s, and their friend’s friend’s girlfriends were in the house. After they drank every last remaining drop of alcohol that Arackniss hadn’t cleared out, friends started arriving with armfuls of alcohol. They were going to tear the place down to its foundation. Arackniss would occasionally feel guilty before he reminded himself this was Valentino’s property they were trashing. He didn’t feel bad for the rat overlord. Thinking about the face the overlord would make when he learned his property had been reduced to trash and that there was nothing he could do about it brought the slightest twitch of a smile to the corner of the spider’s mouth.

.

Pentious, meanwhile, was staring out the hotel window at the street below. Funny. Memories from his life were flooding back. He thought he’d long ago pushed all the bad memories from his mortal form away, but apparently, they were still there. They’d just been waiting to bubble to the surface.

He remembered sitting by the window of his attic room, watching flowers blow lightly in the breeze. He ran his fingers through his hair, grown long from neglect. He couldn’t leave, even if he had wanted to. There was a lock on the door, and another padlock on the window. The air was thick and dusty, choking. The devastation of losing his wife and only son to illness had broken something inside him. He’d thrown himself into his machines and his work, abandoning his own health and care to the point where his hair had already been down past his shoulders when his detestable son-in-law had deemed him mentally unfit for polite society. Ever since, his world had been that room. He knew what his son-in-law wanted. The man wanted to preserve the inheritance instead of watching him spend it on his machines. True, his grief had driven him to spend madly on his hobbies. Anything to keep his mind off his pain. Now, though? He had nothing but his pain, and this room. His legs had grown weak from confinement, leaving him unable to walk on his own. Useless, stupid legs.

There was a light squeaking sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the rats eat the food he wasn’t touching. The rats had grown bold and fat. His family kept saying out loud that they didn’t understand how he could be losing weight while finishing all his food, as if they couldn’t smell the rats or see their leavings. While the humans around him turned a blind eye, someone had noticed. A nest of snakes had moved into the walls along with the rats. The fatter the rats, the fatter the serpents.

“You do more to help me than my family does,” he said slowly to one of the snakes, which just flicked its tongue at him before disappearing back into the rotted walls. His body ached, feeling heavy. Maybe if things had been different, he could have recovered from his wife’s death. He wasn’t given that choice. The only choice left was to prolong his suffering or hasten his death. Maybe after death, he’d become a vengeful demon. He’d come back and make sure his son-in-law never had another serene night of sleep. The money would mean nothing with a demon sitting on his chest, choking him nightly, driving him into his own madness.

Well, he’d certainly gotten his wish to become a vengeful demon, hadn’t he? It had taken some work to get access to the mortal plane after his death, but he’d done it. Coiling his black tail around his son-in-law’s neck every night, feeling pain because he’d allowed that weasel to marry his precious daughter. Watching the man wake up choking, able to see the demon for only a second before he’d vanish. Feeling himself going insane night-by-night, unable to sleep.

He hadn’t intended to drive the man so insane that he’d murder his entire family.

But that was how things went for him. Everything he touched, everything he did, he destroyed. Any remaining good ended up burning. His chest felt like it was going to explode. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut. He wrapped his arms around himself, so tight that his clawed fingers cut his skin enough to draw a slight amount of blood.

As he tried to hold back burning tears, he felt a soft pat-pat against his face. He cracked open his eyelids to see that his hat had rolled itself down onto the bed with him and was patting his face gently with its brim. He wrapped it in his arms and fell asleep, holding its warm, silken fabric against his face.

.

“Oh, Angelcakes,” Valentino said smoothly, causing Angel to internally flinch. He had learned to control his external flinch, as that only made Val more likely to strike. “Here’s the boots I promised you. You will wear them when you perform tonight, won’t you?” he purred. “Daddy already established, daddy hates it when he spends money on things babycakes doesn’t wear.”

“Yes, Val. Anything you say, Val,” Angel repeated, as that was the line that was safest. It was least likely to trigger Val’s fist.

“Oh, Angel?” he asked as Angel tried to baby-step away. The spider froze. “How are things at that hotel you’ve decided to move into?”

Angel knew Val hated the hotel. Ever since Charlie’s broadcast had outed that he lived there, Val had been needling him about it. Saying it damaged his brand. Usually, he would think that was Val’s angle, but this time, he thought he knew otherwise. Angel figured he wanted to know if Angel knew what he’d done.

“Oh, everyone’s being all silly over a new resident, but I don’t know anything about him. Keeps to himself, doesn’t come out of his room. You know I only live there because the rent is free, right? I don’t really care about any of that redemption nonsense,” Angel tried to wave his boss off.

“Really? You’re not curious? Not even a little?”

“Not my monkeys, not my circus,” Angel replied, trying to make it sound convincing. “I should go get my face on; I need to make sure I have time to match my colors to the very nice outfit you got me. Wouldn’t want to clash and burn,” Angel said, trying to sound like he was genuinely joking around. When he walked away though, his walk was stiff. Val cracked a half-smile. He had a task for Angel… but that information could wait until after the show. Wouldn’t want his star being distracted. Might affect his performance.


	6. Journal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Journal excerpts from Sir Pentious' son-in-law. Trying something new formatting wise.

Excerpts from a Victorian-era journal written by a man suffering from what we would now call sleep paralysis.

Museum exhibit #032341A 

Text for those who are unable to read the image or using screen readers:

7/27. An odd dream came upon me last night. As I lay in bed last night I found myself unable to twitch a muscle beyond the movement of my eyes. From the corner of the room came a most dreadful scratching noise, like the long nails of a dog upon the floorboards. At first I thought it was the scratching of the rats that infested the attic. To my amusement, from the shadows of the room rose the shadow of a tall, thin wraith. It reminded me of my dear wife’s father, who recently passed away after taking to bed with a case of melancholy. It had the lower body of a serpent, as it slithered through the shadows across the incoming moonlight. It crawled up and onto my chest, weighing me down as dozens of bloody red eyes stared at me. I felt a crushing pressure and for a moment, the air left my lungs. Then, I was awake again, and the ghastly specter was gone. Such a curious occurrence. I thought about telling my wife, but did not wish to upset her.

8/29. The creature continues to crawl into my room every night when the clock tower tolls three. Bloody eyes staring into my soul. It whispers ‘How strange, that only a few days after you acquired a will, your wife’s father should take ill. It speaks my secrets into my ears with a hissing tone. I cannot rest. My days are broken and my hands shake. “How strange.” How strange it is that this creature haunts my nights. It crawls under my bed with scratching fingers. It lurks in the shadows, so many eyes watching me. I have tried prayers. I have tried science. I have even visited mediums, as much as I think them to be frauds. They tell me that a black shadow lurks behind me, seeking vengeance. Seeking blood, my blood. Always whispering in my ear. Sitting on my chest. Choking me. I fear that if I cannot banish this demon, I might not survive the next night. 


End file.
